


Aftermath

by kugure



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Gen, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-01-31 17:39:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18596191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kugure/pseuds/kugure
Summary: Some people move on, but not them.Aftermath for Endgame. Contain major spoilers. Proceed with caution.





	Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: contain major spoilers of Endgame. If you haven't watched it and didn't want to be spoiled, please do not proceed. 
> 
> But if you have watched it or didn't mind to be spoiled, I hope you enjoy this.

To be honest, Laura didn't really understand about what happened. What she knew was that she was making sandwiches for her kids and husband while they were having a nice day outdoor, when everything around her changed and she was no longer at the park. Her children were all there with her, but not her husband. It was all very scary and confusing. She was there for hours, before everything went back to normal.

Or so she thought.

She was glad that her family was now intact, and she listened to what her husband said about Thanos and what actually happened. It was all so chaotic. Clint looked so happy and relieved when he told her that he missed them and he was glad that he could have them back.

But Laura knew, that Clint didn't tell her everything.

She realized it first when Clint was telling her about Thanos. He looked… sad at some point before he forced his smile back on his face and acted like everything was fine. But Laura knew better.

That Tony Stark wasn't the only one gone for the sake of bringing the universe back to normal.

Her suspicious came true when that night, she was awoken by Clint's whimper.

Her husband wasn't the type who got scared easily. She knew that. She knew his past. She knew what he had done and what he was. But the sound he made now? It was so broken and it made Laura wanted to do anything to make the sound stopped. To make Clint felt safe again.

She was trying to wake her husband up when tears started falling down Clint's face and he said, “Natasha. Natasha. Please,” in such a broken voice. Laura froze.

For a moment, Laura couldn't do anything but just listened to Clint's words, calling Natasha's name like a prayer. Before she knew it, she started crying too.

Natasha was an important figure in Clint's life, and that made her important in her life too. She should've known it. She should've guessed it. Clint didn't tell her about what happened to Natasha. But whatever it was, Natasha was gone, and it broke Clint so bad.

“Clint, honey,” Laura tried again, wiped away her tears and shook her husband gently. “Clint, wake up. It's just a dream.”

She didn't know how long it took, but she kept coaxing Clint to wake up from his bad dream, and when he finally woke up, he gasped and broke down. He clung to Laura like she was the only one who kept him sane. 

“It's supposed to be me,” he cried. “It's supposed to be me.”

Laura clung to Clint back, hugged him as tight as she could manage and listened on how Clint still couldn't get rid of the image in his head every time he closed his eyes; about Natasha, laid there at the bottom of the valley, lifeless. With her pale skin in contrast with how red her hair and her blood were around her.

Laura didn't know how to erase that image from Clint's head. She couldn't bring Natasha back for him too to make it all better. What she could do now was giving Clint the support he needed, and if they were both crying mess after that, she didn't mind.

Everything wasn't back to normal, but they had to try to move on. 

* * *

Everything would get better eventually, people said. But when exactly 'eventually’ was? Because so far, Thor didn't feel any better at all.

It had been years since his mother's died. It had been years since he lost his father. And his brother. And the whole Asgard. And the pain, it didn't even lessen.

In the end, they won. They defeated Thanos. They brought half of the universe back from disappearance. But, he didn't feel as good as he thought over this victory. Because it didn't bring Asgard back. Didn't bring his family back. Didn't bring his brother back. It didn't feel like victory at all for him.

He spent days, hoping that it was just his brother's big joke that wasn't funny at all. That one day, Loki would appear in front of him and said, “Boo,” like it was just his regular prank like back then with the snake.

He knew he was being stupid. Everything that happened, it was all real. And he wasn't the only one who lost something. Natasha was gone. Tony was gone. And he noticed Quill still trying to find where Gamora was. A futile effort. But Thor didn't have the heart to tell him that.

Because he was still hoping as well. Even though it crushed him.

Despite everything, Thor still missed him, and always would be.  

* * *

It was the end of an era, Bruce thought after he heard Strange's explanation. How that Strange was sorry that it had to be this way. That he had seen every possible outcome of this war, and the only thing that worked out would only to have Tony to sacrifice himself.

Bruce thought Strange was a cold-hearted person, from the way he bantered with Tony back then, but now he knew better. The man felt guilty over it as well, so Bruce smiled at him anyway.

It was the end of an era, he thought when he saw Peter Parker at Tony's funeral. The boy's eyes were red and puffy. Bruce knew how much he idolized Tony, worshiped the ground he worked on, and Bruce couldn't help but feel proud of Tony. Because despite his issues, he was a great father figure after all. For Peter, and for Morgan.

So, it was the end of an era. With Natasha and Tony gone, Thor left, and Steve quit, their era ended.

It didn't mean that the Avengers would stop existing though.

* * *

Steve was used to lost. He lost his parents. He lost his best friend. He lost the love of his life. He thought that he would get used to it somehow, but he was wrong.

It still hurt so much when he lost Natasha and Tony.

The two had been his anchor that grounding him to the present after he was awoken from his deep slumber. People that he could hold on to, who weren't tied to his past.

After Bucky and Peggy, Natasha and Tony were people who he could call as best friends. Family, even.

But he lost them.

So when he was being sent back to return all the stones to its respective timeline, he had another agenda. To revive his friends’ back. Whatever it took.

And well, it took Steve awhile to realize that he couldn't bring Natasha back. Her sacrifice was needed for the Soul Stone, and he couldn't undo that. He tried to make peace with that reality, and now focusing on Tony.

He tried. Over and over again. And nothing worked. He was at lost. Didn't know what else to do. He didn't have Tony's brain who could always come up with an idea to solve everything. Failure wasn't in the man's vocabulary.

During his desperate moments, Steve wanted to be angry at Tony so damn bad. Because he dared to sacrifice himself like that. And at that thought, Steve wanted to laugh and be mad at himself instead.

Because it reminded him. During their first meeting, he accused Tony as someone who was selfish while he was playing hero, and he was nothing without his suit. And since then, Tony had proved him that he was wrong, so many times. Tony was anything but selfish. He always put aside his own need for the greater good.

Steve could almost hear Tony smirked at him smugly and said, “I love it when you're wrong and I'm right, Capt.”

Steve sighed as he closed his eyes. However, Tony still thought that  _ he _ was the one who had self-sacrificing tendency. Tony always said that he should be selfish for once.

Maybe it was time to do what Tony said. The man was always right anyway. Steve trusted him and should listened to him for once. It couldn't hurt, right?

**Author's Note:**

> If you squinted hard enough, you could see Stony, IronStrange, Science Bros and Thorki in here ;) 
> 
> Feel free to hit me up on [tumblr](http://grettalks.tumblr.com/) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/grettalks?s=09) so we can cry together over Endgame.


End file.
